Chapter 178 - Negotiation
While Ben and Endo talked about their plan, Theo made his way to Radvils' office after school.
It was indeed a few rooms away from the principal office and there was his name plate hanging on the white metallic door, so he couldn't go to the wrong place. When he was about to knock on the door, the door was already opened to the side, revealing the room and Radvils inside.
Radvils had a serious expression, sitting on the chair in the opposite direction. His desk was filled with nothing but his own Skylink.
Surprisingly, there was already another chair in front of the table. Radvils extended his hand and asked, "Come in and sit."
Theo hesitated for a second before walking inside the room and sitting on the chair, facing him.
"Let me confirm it again. You have told your teammates about the sabotage, correct?" asked Radvils while crossing his arms.
Theo nodded without hesitation.
"In that case, I will ask you a few questions. Do you have any suspects in mind?"
Theo didn't know whether Radvils was an enemy or not since the person who tricked them was also a soldier. In other words, whoever wanted him had some people inside the army.
However, Theo was afraid no more and stated. "The Lange Family."
"Ho?" Radvils narrowed his eyes and noticed the meaning behind his answer. "Instead of Laust Lange, you're saying the Lange Family is involved. Does that mean you believe in Laust Lange?"
"No." Theo shook his head but stopped after that one word.
Radvils understood that Theo must have his own deduction based on what he saw, so he asked another question. "Then, the second question, how did you figure it out?"
Theo was confused for a second before realizing Radvils must be talking about the soldier and how he knew he was lying. He then began to tell him a short story and his suspicion.
Theo didn't forget to leave some irrelevant details.
"Alright." Radvils nodded and said, "We will continue our investigation. However, it will be bad if another family participates in this, so I want you to stop them."
"Hmm?" Theo frowned.
Radvils already knew his doubt and continued his explanation. "I know your doubt, but I want you to tell your teammates that everything is just a test, so they will tell their family to stop the investigation, making it less suspicious and easier to catch the culprit."
"So, you want me to redirect them?"
"Basically."
Theo thought this was something to cover up the one behind this scheme.
With the help of other families, not just the Eilric Family, he could learn it faster, especially with the Hilbert Family since they were an underground family.
"I am afraid I need to refuse."
Radvils' expression turned cold as his face became even more serious. "Did I hear it right?"
"Yes. I don't see any merits in me." Theo refused him with a calm expression. "I don't see any point in stopping them since I will benefit more in letting them do whatever they want. Besides, I have never seen someone like you in Skynet, so for what reason should I obey you?"
Radvils smirked and said, "Are you sure you're going to talk to me like that, knowing full well I have the right to disqualify you?"
Theo didn't back down as he made an evil grin. "That means you're going to disqualify everyone in my group, right? That's fine by me. It's even more convenient for me."
Theo took advantage of Phyrill and Alea's backgrounds to fight with Radvils, but the latter was still unfazed and continued, "I'm saying that you're the only one I'm going to disqualify."
Theo's expression turned cold as he said, "Try it and see what will happen next. The reason you asked me to do this is due to my position in the team. I can easily influence their opinion… You want to take advantage of it, but it doesn't mean I can't take advantage of it, right?"
Radvils released his killing intent at maximum as he said with a cold tone before a shadow appeared from beneath Theo's chair and became a sharp dagger that stopped right on his neck. "Then, I will just eliminate you here. Do you think I'm weak? The first basic requirement to become an instructor is to have a high level. I can simply kill you here and no one will know."
Theo glanced at the sharp blade at his throat, but he didn't cower. He remained calm and even smiled like he had gone insane. "You can do it… But I would like you to know that I have an appointment with the Eilric Family's Nart Eilric not long after this. The moment he gets involved, he will surely find you."
Radvils furrowed his eyebrows, looking at Theo's fearless expression. He soon realized something was wrong and retracted the blade while asking, "What do you want?"
"I would like to hear who wants to aim at us or me as well as compensation for lying to my teammates."
Radvils clicked his tongue and leaned back on his chair while crossing his arms. Nart Eilric wouldn't protect him if this boy didn't have anything special. Yet, he couldn't find a lie in his statement as if Nart Eilric indeed would meet him soon.
If Nart indeed saw something good in this boy, he might do something to him according to his own memory. At the same time, Theo seemed to be fearless even in the face of death as if he didn't care whether he died or not. It wasn't that he didn't fear death, but he simply thought that death might come to him sooner or later, so he didn't care about him dying now or in the future.
And Theo appeared to have another trump card that he might use in this conversation and probably mess up his plan for the Grand Gaia.
After several minutes, he closed his eyes, grabbed a card, and tossed it to Theo. "This is your compensation."
Theo caught the card and furrowed his eyebrows, wanting to extort him a bit, but then he realized it was better not to go over the limit since Radvils would still play a big role in this tournament.
With him being far stronger than him, Theo decided it was time to pull up and smiled with eyes as cold as Radvils. "Thanks for the skill."
